Play, Storyworld, Gesamtkunstwerk: Narrative Geographies for Avatars

Abstract
This talk will bring together three terms originating from disciplines that at first glance may seem to be unrelated to artistic activity in Virtual Environments or Virtual Worlds: ‘Storyworld’ which is grounded in the field of Narratology, Gesamtkunstwerk’ from the field of Aesthetics and the concept of 'Play' as described by Johan Huizinga. These three terms will be used as the theoretical framework that explicates on the creation of virtual, three dimensional ‘art ecologies’ for narrative purposes in virtual worlds. Several art ecologies, including one created by the presenter, will be used as examples as to how such narrative spaces can be built.

Biography
Elif Ayiter is a designer, educator and researcher whose creative interests are based in three dimensional online virtual worlds and their avatars, as well as in developing and implementing hybrid educational methodologies between art & design and computer science. She teaches full time at Sabanci University in Istanbul. Her texts have been published at academic journals such as the Leonardo Electronic Almanac, the Journal of Consciousness Studies, and Technoetic Arts. She has authored many book chapters in edited academic books and has presented creative as well as research output at many international conferences.

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